Assembly Member Ken Skates visited a primary school to hear how children are tackling the growing problem of plastic pollution.

Clwyd South AM Mr Skates spent time with pupils at Ysgol Sant Dunawd in Bangor-on-Dee on Friday (July 6) to hear more about the work Year 6 youngsters are doing to help raise awareness of the issue as part of this term’s ‘Blue Planet’ topic.

“Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental issues in the world today, so I’m very pleased so see our young people play their part in trying to tackle it,” said Mr Skates.
“As part of their campaign, the children have been litter-picking and reduced the amount of plastic packaging they use in school, especially single-use water bottles, and surveyed local businesses about what they are doing to help.”

The Dosbarth Tryfan class gave Mr Skates a presentation, which he described as ‘superb’.

Mr Skates added: “It was extremely well researched. The children told me some shocking facts and figures, like that it takes 200 years for a plastic straw to decompose and that 12m tonnes of plastic packaging ends up in our oceans each year.

“Wales has an incredible recycling record which is up there with the best in the world, but we can all do more. The biggest change comes from young people, so I’m extremely proud schoolchildren in my constituency feel this strongly and have decided to do something.”

Mr Skates told the children that the Welsh Government recently committed to ensuring all its offices are free of single-use plastic by the end of this Assembly term in 2021 and is already taking steps towards achieve its aim. A 25p charge for disposable cups means around 75% of hot drinks sold in Welsh Government canteens are now in reusable cups.